THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Starting to look like the good ol' days at the Dome

There was a time, especially back in the 1980s and early 90s, when the Montana Grizzlies came to town, when the Kibble Dome was rockin.

Ditto back in the 2000s, at least when Boise State came to town.

The Dome looked and sounded an awful lot like that on Saturday, when the Idaho Vandals took the Eastern Washington Eagles out behind the woodshed to the tune of a 48-16 beatdown in Moscow.

“Oh, what a crowd,” said first-year Idaho coach Jason Eck, who never misses a chance to thank and invite the fans, thank and invite the students as he tries to build a home-Dome advantage.

It helped that it was EWU that was in town.

Earlier in the week, an Idaho official found an old trophy from the 1980s that was given to the winner of the Idaho-Eastern game.

It was called the Governors Cup.

As Eck and three of his players sat at a table for the postgame press conference on Saturday, the trophy sat on the table with perhaps a new name for the cup written on it in white tape — the Che-Skow Cup.

You know, for Cheney, and for Moscow …

Anyway …

ON SATURDAY, Eagles or not, this crowd was mostly Vandals anyway.

The announced attendance was 11,811, which was a surprise to all, as the Kibbie Dome, with a listed capacity of 16,000, looked close to full.

Perhaps an audit is in order.

Perhaps thousands of very large people were taking up space in the bleacher portion of the Dome that didn’t have seats — which was most of the building.

And they only counted as one spectator each.

“I thought there was more than that,” Eck said. “I thought it was going to be 14, 15 (thousand), maybe one section (one of the smaller ones, on the end) was kind of open. It was an awesome turnout … what a turnout by all our fans.

“And they made a difference in the game,” Eck continued. “They (the Eagles) had a false start on third down on their first drive, and it pushed them back. They were going to go for it on fourth and 3 and it went to fourth and 8, and they had to kick a field goal. So that was huge. They (the fans) definitely had an impact on the game.”

WHAT A difference a year makes.

Last year, Idaho was 4-7 and hasn’t really challenged for an FCS playoff berth since returning to the Big Sky Conference in 2018. This year, under Eck and an all-new coaching staff, the Vandals (6-3, 5-1 Big Sky) likely need at least one more win — next week at home vs. UC Davis, or in the regular season finale the following week at lowly Idaho State — to earn a berth to the FCS playoffs.

“I think it starts with our fearless leader, coach Eck,” said Idaho junior wide receiver Hayden Hatten, who caught 10 passes against Eastern on Saturday, four for touchdowns. “We’ve reloaded with a lot of guys from last year, but … we lost a lot of guys.

“I think it starts up top, and it’s just a culture change where everybody really believes we’re going to win, and I think that’s the most important thing in college football … everybody showing up for practice every day, believing you’re going to win.”

Eastern, a perennial playoff team, knows how quickly things can change. The Eags (2-7, 1-5) are headed for their first losing season since 2006.

Eastern coach Aaron Best said the biggest difference in the Vandals from 2021 to ’22 is “belief.”

“I think coach Eck came in, brought some guys in that weren’t on the club last year,” Best said. “Nucleus is the same, the freshman quarterback (Gevani McCoy) is playing out of his mind. He can beat you with his arm and his feet.

“They’re not going to beat themselves; you’re going to have to beat them, and we didn’t do that today.”

Other than Sac State, no one else at the FCS level has this year, either.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.